Card payments on a website in North Macedonia — what you need and what it costs

The store is ready, the products are in — but card payment isn’t something you switch on with a button.

You need a contract with a bank and a technical connection. Here it is, step by step.

What you need first

• A registered company with a business bank account
• A working website with a privacy policy and terms of use
• Clearly written return and complaint terms
• An SSL certificate — mandatory

The bank will review the website. A store without return terms is often rejected, and that is the most common cause of delay.

The options in North Macedonia

CPay (Casys) — the most common solution. It works with several banks and has ready-made modules for WooCommerce and other platforms.

Directly through a bank — Halkbank, NLB and others offer their own systems. The terms are negotiated individually.

Foreign providers (Stripe, PayPal) — they don’t fully work for Macedonian companies receiving payments. There are other solutions for export, but for domestic sales the local option is more practical.

What it costs

One-off setup: usually 0 to 10,000 denars (up to about €160), depending on the bank and current promotions.

Fee per transaction: around 1.5% to 3%, depending on volume and the contract.

Monthly fee: some banks charge one, some don’t.

The transaction fee is what decides the total cost. A 0.5% difference on a turnover of a million denars (about €16,000) a year is 5,000 denars (about €80) — worth negotiating.

How long it takes

The contract: one to three weeks, depending on the bank.
The technical connection: one to two days with a ready-made module.
Testing: you usually get a test environment before going live.

Plan a month from the start to the first real transaction.

The technical part — what to look out for

There is a ready-made plugin for WooCommerce. You enter three things you get from the bank: a merchant ID, a terminal ID and a secret key.

The secret key is crucial. It signs every transaction and is used to check that a confirmation really comes from the bank, and not from someone pretending to be it.

If it isn’t entered correctly, something happens that many people don’t notice for months: payments go through, but the system doesn’t record them. The customer paid, and the order sits there as unpaid.

A check you must do

After the setup, place a real order with your own card for a small amount. Then check three things:

1. That the money arrived
2. That the order is marked as paid in the system
3. That the customer got a confirmation by email

If the second one doesn’t work, your books won’t match the bank — and that only comes to light when the accounts are reconciled.

Cash on delivery — don’t dismiss it

In North Macedonia a significant share of buyers still prefer to pay cash on delivery. Offer both — those who like paying by card will use it, and you don’t lose the others.